. >> my roommate was latino. i mean, it was awesome. it was a cultural soup that really tasted good for everyone, you know, and he was in the center of it. >> narrator: eventually, he took an important step. >> i asked, you know, "barry obama. what kind of name is that for a brother? you know, where are you from exactly?" and he said, "well, i'm from hawaii, but my father was kenyan. and his name was barack obama. and i go by barry so that i don't have to explain my name all the time, and go into a long explanation of myself." and so i said, "well, if your name is barack obama, i'm going to call you barack obama because i like that name. >> narrator: in the school's literary magazine, barry now identified himself as barack obama. >> i think the word "barack" is absolutely essential to that identity of being, "i am a man. i am a man with a future. i need to be prepared for whatever that is going to be. i don't know the answers yet. but i sure as heck know i won't get there if i hang out and take things for granted and just be kind of a s